AuthorDan Desai Martin

On Monday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan rewrote an executive order prohibiting local health officials from implementing blanket school closures during the coronavirus pandemic. Hogan’s revised order, originally issued on April 5, was in direct response to Montgomery County, one of the state’s most populous counties where health officials recently ordered all schools — both public and...

The academic year has barely begun, yet several schools have already faced setbacks because of coronavirus outbreaks. On Monday, Donald Trump reiterated his demand to “Open the Schools!” But Indiana, the first state in the nation to begin its school year, has already seen a number of coronavirus-related incidents. Elwood Junior-Senior High School closed its doors on Monday just days...

Donald Trump contradicted his administration’s coronavirus expert Monday morning, demanding schools reopen amid the ongoing pandemic. “Cases up because of BIG Testing! Much of our Country is doing very well. Open the Schools!” he tweeted. One day earlier, on Sunday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the leader of the White House coronavirus task force, dismissed any suggestions that the country...

Top Republican officials in Texas issued a joint statement on Friday sidelining health experts when it comes to decisions about reopening schools next month. “The authority to decide when the school year will begin lies with local school boards,” not health officials, read a statement from Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Senate Education Chair...

A spokesperson for the House Republican campaign arm on Thursday dismissed allegations of domestic violence against Dan Rodimer, a GOP candidate in Nevada, as a “private” family moment. According to the Associated Press, in 2018, Las Vegas police officers responded to two separate 911 calls from Sarah Duffy, Rodimer’s then-girlfriend, “alleging domestic violence and that...

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the Trump administration, on Thursday debunked the notion that an anti-malaria drug can cure coronavirus just a day after a Republican congressman who tested positive for the virus announced he would start taking it. “We know in the randomized controlled trials to date — and there’s been several of them — that there’s...

Donald Trump oversaw the worst economic quarter in recorded U.S. history, with the economy shrinking by 33% from April through June. This marks the second quarter in a row Trump has presided over a steep quarterly drop in the nation’s gross domestic product, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, following a 5% drop from January through March. Since the federal government began...

A day after Republicans released their long-awaited coronavirus relief bill, GOP senators are already complaining about unrelated funding measures in it, including $1.75 billion demanded by the White House to build a new FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. “That makes no sense to me,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Tuesday. He added he would be “fine” if the FBI funds...

Americans overwhelmingly approve of nationwide racial justice protests taking place across the country, a new poll shows. According to a Gallup poll released Tuesday, broad support persists even as Donald Trump repeatedly maligns the protesters as violent anarchists. Protest support is highest among Black adults (92%), followed closely by Asian adults (89%), Hispanic adults (70%), and a majority...

Donald Trump said Monday that more states need to reopen their economies, despite none of them meeting the criteria set forth by the White House to do so safely. “I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states that they’re not opening,” Trump said during a visit to a North Carolina bioprocess innovation center. “We’ll see what happens with...